Ms Cooper's class was trying out the level 1 beta version of the K-5 code.org curriculum today. The students got the hang of the most basic algorithm. While the activity may seem simple on the surface, it was new to most students and it took a minute for the kiddos to catch on. They will be able to work on the whole course once the lessons are finalized. Great job guys! Screen Shot of the Code.org K-5 Website Below
0 Comments
It was so much fun meeting a 7 year old author at the Decatur Book Festival. Myles Shulman wants to make the world a better place and in his poster book "Make the World Happy" he tells the story of a mean cat who loses his friend but then later reconnects with him after he apologizes. There are tips on how to act with friends and a workspace for how kids should manager their anger in order to have a happy family life. The kindergartners responded very well to the character education messages woven through this touching tale.
Thursday, October 9
7 pm (doors open at 5:30 pm), Glenn Memorial Auditorium 1660 N Decatur Rd, Atlanta, GA 30307
Rockin' it With Maps 101! When Ms Henderson brought her class to the library, I bragged about the great DCSD resource, Maps101! She could not wait to use her understanding of the new program with her class on the spot to show them the information they needed to learn as part of the 5th grade social studies standards! Way to go! As you can see, the students were completely enchanted with the map lesson. Ms Limoncelli dropped in and was completely impressed with Ms Henderson's ability to think on the spot and show initiative in coming up to co-teach the lesson! Thanks for dropping by for this enjoyable activity!! Trying out Readers Theatre Activity! In Ms Hogan's class, I decided to try out a reader's theatre script to see if the students enjoyed this type of learning. Students do not need to memorize lines. They do not even need costumes. The scripts are "mini plays" and can even be created by students based on information they know from a book or story. This is a fun way to improve fluency, creativity, and information recall! A good time was had by all, as you can see from this picture!! World Book Online Early World of Learning The World Book Early World of Learning is a great Pk-2 learning resource. It supports the common core standards by elaborating on non fiction elements that appear in fictional stories and provides many non fiction units of study. It also provides many reading comprehension activities. In this activity, the student is putting the story cards in the proper sequence. A number of the lower grade classes got to experience this wonderful program this week. Early World of Learning is available to you 24/7. Just go to Media Center Landing Page, scroll down to the Symbaloo webmix the http://hawthornees.dekalb.k12.ga.us/MediaCenter.aspx and click on the Early World of Learning in the second column. The user name and pw is located on the library door, in the office, and on handouts distributed on curriculum night! Here are a few screenshots from this great program! World Book Kids Here are a few screenshots from this great program! The Hawthorne library was so lucky to get a surprise visit from Ms Holbrook and Ms Robinson's awesome class! The students were studying various types of matter. They used the library to locate, identify and classify various objects. This was a really fun and interactive mini project and the kiddos had a blast. Thanks for stopping and visiting me today! Internet Safety with faux pas the techno cat |
Make your own story! Do you like the "Choose your Adventure stories? You can make one with Inklewriter!! "Write as you playThe inklewriter lets you write as you play, branching the story with choices, and then linking those branches back together again. It keeps track of which paths you’ve finished, and which still need to be written. There’s no set-up, no programming, no drawing diagrams – so there’s nothing between you and the empty page. Oh, and it’s free to use. And once written, you can share your stories with whomever you like." Source: http://www.inklestudios.com/inklewriter/ Start your story now! See Minecraft Story Sample Below: |
SAMPLE INKLEWRITER MINECRAFT STORY
Today we had several classes come to the library for a technology block and the kiddos were introduced to Botlogic http://botlogic.us/play. It looks like an easy game but it gets more and more challenging and students have to solve problems to get the Bot home. This maze teaches students computational logic leading eventually to computer programming. Check out today's pictures below!!
Ms cooper/Birnbaum's class with Ms walker jumping into the fun!
Ms Pope and Ms Letour's 3RD GRADE CLASS Class whipping botlogic!
MS CHANDONIA'S 2ND GRADE CLASS IN BOTLOGIC ACTION!!
MS HAHN'S 5TH GRADE CLASS LEARNS SCRATCH PROGRAMMING!
Scratch http://scratch.mit.edu/ is a complex visual programming language. It's great to know Scratch because it comes in handy when working in robotics and other electronic creations. There is a bit of a learning curve but Ms Hahn's class had a great first day as they took a bite out of a piece of the program. Eric J, and Amaya P. agreed to each take a group and be the "Scratch Trainers." They did a great job teaching everyone how to get Scratch up and running. Thank you so much for your help guys!
Ms Menon, our gifted teacher and I were talking about how smart and motivated our amazing students are. A number of them completed a rigorous 20 hour Introduction to Computer Science Course, sponsored by code.org. She suggested we have an ice cream social to celebrate their success. I have been so busy doing end of year procedures that it has been hard for me to turn my attention to this group of students, even though I wanted to. I jumped at the chance to have her help! She brought the ice cream and all of the supplies for "do it yourself sundaes". The kids seemed to enjoy themselves but more importantly, it was a great opportunity for us to debrief and talk about which coding activities were fun, and which were a bit challenging etc. It was great hearing their feedback and we made plans to create their Tynker accounts so they can continue on their programming path during the summer. Thank you very much to Madison's mom for the ice cream, Ms Menon for organizing the students, invitations, supplies, and doing all the serving and thank you & Hadi Partovi co-founder of Code.org.
Today was a big day! Our 2013-14 Media Squad trained the 2014-15 Media Squad! They showed them the ropes, gave them advice and provided several practice opportunities! I am going to miss this year's media squad soooo much! They not only provided me with excellent help but they were so much fun to be around. Good luck in middle school my friends!
Dr Jodi is the author of a number of science books for Capstone Press. Today she spent time with first graders as she had them study worms to help them get some background knowldege before she read them Wiggling Worms at Work by Wendy Pfeffer. The kids had a blast, even when the worms crawled out of the cups!!
Ms Halpern's 5th grade class worked to solve reference source mysteries in a scavenger hunt format. They did a great job and got completely involved in the activity. A good time was had by all!
Pre-K has been working with the Kodable app in the library! They LOVE solving the maze puzzles!! Here is a nice article about Preschool and Kindergarten children learning to do pre-coding FUN-damental skills with this app: http://readwrite.com/2013/04/23/kodablehttp://readwrite.com/2013/04/23/kodable-teaches-kids-to-code-before-they-learn-to-read#awesm=~ot4giGn0fJeiVu.-teaches-kids-to-code-before-they-learn-to-read#awesm=~ot4giGn0fJeiVu.
If you are interested in getting this app, here is the Itunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kodable/id577673067?ls=1&mt=8. I have not seen an android link for Kodable.
If you are interested in getting this app, here is the Itunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kodable/id577673067?ls=1&mt=8. I have not seen an android link for Kodable.
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr's birthday, Kindergarten read a beautifully illustrated Martin Luther King Jr. book and learned some fun MLK Jr. Songs! In this picture, Ms Ledet is reading to the students.
We Had So Much Fun Singing This Song, You Try It!
Let Us Keep His Dream Alive
to the tune of "This Old Man"
This young man had a dream;
In his eye he had a gleam.
We must love each other to survive.
Let us keep his dream alive.
He believed man was good;
He had dreams of brotherhood.
We must love each other to survive.
Let us keep his dream alive.
All join hands, let us sing;
Let the bells of freedom ring.
We must love each other to survive.
Let us keep his dream alive.
We can learn from the past;
Then we'll all be "free at last!"
We must love each other to survive.
Let us keep his dream alive.
Soure http://www.theholidayzone.com/mlk/mlksongs.html Note from website author: "Let Us Keep His Dream Alive" is not an original song. It's one I've had in my card file for ages, but I have no idea who the original author was. If you know, please e-mail me so proper credit can be given.
to the tune of "This Old Man"
This young man had a dream;
In his eye he had a gleam.
We must love each other to survive.
Let us keep his dream alive.
He believed man was good;
He had dreams of brotherhood.
We must love each other to survive.
Let us keep his dream alive.
All join hands, let us sing;
Let the bells of freedom ring.
We must love each other to survive.
Let us keep his dream alive.
We can learn from the past;
Then we'll all be "free at last!"
We must love each other to survive.
Let us keep his dream alive.
Soure http://www.theholidayzone.com/mlk/mlksongs.html Note from website author: "Let Us Keep His Dream Alive" is not an original song. It's one I've had in my card file for ages, but I have no idea who the original author was. If you know, please e-mail me so proper credit can be given.
Check out our new Symbaloo Webmix (found on the Destiny page). The first two columns on the left all have the same log in from home. Ask your child if he or she remember the log in! We have been practicing!!
Pebble Go by Capstone is a fun, graphic research database for PreK-2. Early World of Learning is also great for the little ones. The World Book Student has an entire section dedicated to the teaching of research.
We have two Spanish resources, Brainop Espanol and WorldBook Estudiantil Hallazgos. WorldBook Discover for Kids is great for the whole school.
Don't forget to enjoy the 210 Capstone Interactive Books and the Storybooks, Non Fiction, Chapter books, and videos in Tumblooks! Finally, if you want to meet an author, just head over to Teachingbooks.net! You can see various booktalks and learn how the authors came up with their ideas for their stories.
Pebble Go by Capstone is a fun, graphic research database for PreK-2. Early World of Learning is also great for the little ones. The World Book Student has an entire section dedicated to the teaching of research.
We have two Spanish resources, Brainop Espanol and WorldBook Estudiantil Hallazgos. WorldBook Discover for Kids is great for the whole school.
Don't forget to enjoy the 210 Capstone Interactive Books and the Storybooks, Non Fiction, Chapter books, and videos in Tumblooks! Finally, if you want to meet an author, just head over to Teachingbooks.net! You can see various booktalks and learn how the authors came up with their ideas for their stories.
Watch this video to find out why coding to learn helps students work through the design process from idea inception to project completion, how to experiment with new ideas, how to break down complex ideas into simpler parts, how to collaborate with others, and how to stay persistent when frustrated. You might not become a programmer but the systematic reasoning skills, design skills, and creative thinking skills can help you in your personal and professional life at any age.
Archives
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
May 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
May 2013
April 2013
Author
Sue Levine is a Teacher-Librarian in Atlanta, GA.